Today we’d like to introduce you to Trish Elliott.
Trish, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My partner, David Mink and I were working for a murder mystery company many years ago, having a great time performing interactively. The owner of the company was a business person, not a theatre person, and was interested selling. I knew David slightly, because he was a well-known director and actor in Chicago, and I was working as an actor in both theatre and commercially. We talked, and worked out a partnership, purchased the company, and began Redmink Productions.
We soon learned, however, that we were not going to make a living doing murder mysteries, and when clients began asking us for other kinds of entertainment—-barbershop quartets, historical lookalikes, stilt walkers, etc.–we decided to just say “yes” for a year, and figure it out.
We were successful. We made some mistakes along the way but we found a way to do a great business with extremely talented performers in every category imaginable. We worked very hard not to make the same mistakes, and to always improve our product. We began doing themes, amassed an arsenal of costumes, and did a lot of writing for award banquets, business meetings, and corporate events, as an added value. We also began working closely with a client who does many country clubs and we formed strong relationships with many of Chicago’s Museums, zoos, and organizations like Chicago Botanic Gardens. We have been doing over 1,000 events for many years now, and have just celebrated our 30th birthday in business.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our business has a lot of challenges, because people often think of entertainment as the last thing on their list, after food, decor, and venue, so we have had to prove our worth and our pricing, which is not the cheapest in the market, but we prefer to offer quality. We have one Chicago City client who booked us for 9 weekends one year in 2015 and it was very successful summer. They tried a less expensive company the next summer, but we just signed a three-year contract with them for 2017-2020. That made us very happy.
9/11 set us back. Business almost completely stopped for several months, but we were able to weather that storm. And in 2009, when the financial markets tanked, that was a very tough time, but since our overhead was low, we saw it thru. Corporate events have never been the same: they used to be elaborate and great fun, but we endeavor to offer unusual and fun options, to great effect.
David and I have had to work out our own business relationship along the way. Like a marriage, we have had our ups and downs, but we are each happy that we worked things out. Most partnerships don’t last this long!
Please tell us about Redmink Productions.
What sets us apart from other entertainment companies, I believe, is our style and vetting. Since David and I are both performers, we see our talent in action, and want to make sure they further Redmink’s brand, which playful, personal, and outgoing. We are a very large ensemble and our performers know and work together. We also can create characters and music for nearly any theme you can imagine. We also tend to use actors with special skills, when we can, so they can really fill characters.
I don’t know of any other companies that come from a theatre point of view, which makes us unique. I am on the Jeff Committee, and see most of Chicago Theatre, and am always looking for new talent. We audition new talent several times a year, and we also have great loyalty from our performers.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
When I was seven, the high school came to my second-grade class, looking for little girls to play ballerina dolls in the high school play. Debbie Hibler and I were chosen, and I still have a strong sensory memory of being in that play. I’m sure I was terrible, but I felt very at home there.
Another memory is going to a working ranch in Colorado with my Dad when I was 13. We had saddle horses at home, and the wranglers at the ranch recognized immediately that we could actually ride, so they let us ride their own horses, took us on cattle roundups, and treated us as valued fellow cowboys. It was amazing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.redmink.com
- Phone: 773-685-1818
- Email: trish@redmink.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RedMink/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/redmink-productions-chicago
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